


Search and Rescue

by Guardian_of_Hope



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Connections, Deserts, Gen, Hiding, Tatooine, jedi in exile, mind trick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 13:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11208567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardian_of_Hope/pseuds/Guardian_of_Hope
Summary: Kara Saje and her team arrive on Tatooine searching for a Padawan in danger after Order 66 and find an old friend instead.





	Search and Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a link between my story Wanderer and my series Search, Rescue, and Retrieval, cross posted to Tumblr.
> 
> It presumes certain people survived Order 66. Mostly original characters mentioned.

Kara Saje was sick to death of sand.  This was their twenty-ninth planet with a distinctive desert region in two months, and she was sure they were burning more fuel with every flight because of the amount of sand onboard.

“Here’s Tatooine,” Chip announced, “twin suns and nothing but desert.  Not even the Imperials bother with this one.”

“No, but the Hutts do,” Kalina replied from the door to the cockpit.  She moved, causing the bracelets on her arms to chime.  “Please tell me I won’t have to talk to a Hutt?”

Kara glanced at the drawing that had spawned their desperate search, then out the viewport at the planet.  Carefully, cautiously, she reached out with the Force, only to bite down on a gasp.  There was a strong Light-based force presence on that planet, shining in the Force with the same intensity as the twin suns targeted Tatooine.  Then, even as she basked in the feeling, it vanished.  There was a second flicker, not as strong, but more refined that vanished nearly as quickly.

“Maybe not,” Kara managed, blinking as if she could clear her mental senses with the gesture.  “There’s strong Force signatures down there.”  She considered what she felt and pointed, “Here, nearest space port to the signatures is Mos Eisely.”

“Good,” Kalina said, “plenty of places to start hunting there.”  She sighed, almost dramatically, “I guess I should go get ready.  I think I still have an outfit that isn’t full of sand.”

“Good luck,” Kara replied, torn between her jealousy that Kalina would be able to leave the ship and her growing distaste for sand.  Two years since the galaxy had changed, the bright stars of the Force that had been her family, distant or close, vanishing on the orders of a man who didn’t have the decency to die properly.

“Hey,” Chip said, reaching over to squeeze her knee, “ease up, yeah?”

Kara smiled, reaching over to twist her fingers in Chip’s.  “Sorry, just, I hate this.”

“I know,” Chip said, “but we both know that showing our faces anywhere is a death wish.  I’m too distinctive, and you’re too much of a Jedi.”

Kara nodded slightly, they’d learned that the hard way, back on Er’kit, when a pair of Gotal had handed her over for the Jedi bounty just by watching her walk down the street with Kalina.  Chip hadn’t even bothered to leave the ship, even though he and Rusty had refused to let her leave the Refuge alone.  Rusty would be wearing Mandalorian armor and escorting Kalina this time.

“You’re sure we’ll find them?”  Chip asked softly.

Kara looked back at the picture, the Twi’lek in a dancing girl’s outfit and her companion, a Rodian.  “We have to,” she said sadly.

There weren’t many younglings out in the galaxy any more, finding the Force sensitive survivors of the Purge was a race against the Empire.  Kara knew there were others who were smuggling sensitives to safe locations, but she worried who would train them.

It was probably a heresy, but Kara liked that they had agreed to call their group ‘The Jedi Order in Exile’ as opposed to finding a new name.  It was one of the few things that they kept tied to the old Order.  They no longer used words like Padawan or Knight in the open, they didn’t even use the military designations that the war had given them.

There were no more Masters, no more Padawan braids, no more Trials.

Just people with an extra awareness of the world and a weaponized glow stick, struggling to define themselves against the backdrop of a galaxy growing darker every week.

“All right,” Kalina announced, “Rusty and I are heading out.”

“We’ll be standing by,” Kara said, turning to smile at her friend, “call if you need us.”

“Don’t need us,” Chip said, “stay safe.”

Kalina, dressed in a robe that hinted at a generous figure, hair bound up and covered with an artful scarf, looked like a Madame looking for fresh meat for a spacer’s brothel.  It was a cover people wouldn’t look twice at.  People didn’t want slavers to notice them, especially a brothel Madame performing acquisitions.  Some of them only cared whether or not you already had a chip in you.

“We’ll keep in touch,” Rusty said from behind Kalina, his black and silver armor an imposing but surprisingly decorative back drop to Kalina’s ostentatiousness.

Kara settled into the co-pilot seat, wishing they’d dared have Jumper or Swoop come with them, but she wasn’t about to drag her friends away from the Refuge when their daughter was almost ready to be born.  Had been born, by now.  She sighed.

“You okay?”  Chip asked.

“Just, wishing we were back,” Kara said.  “Jumper and Swoop’s little girl’s been born by now.”

“Yeah,” Chip said.

“Remember when they found out it was a girl?”  Kara said.

Chip laughed, “They were terrified.”

“Three years of war, and they’re afraid of a lady-bean,” Kara said.

“They’re going to be awesome dads,” Chip said.  He stared out the viewport for a moment, “You think you’ll have kids?”

Kara shook her head, “No, I’ll have Padawans.  I was thinking that Tya’s ready to be Knighted.”

“So soon?”  Chip asked.

“He’s dealing with his grief better than Sarisa thought he would,” Kara said, “and he’s thoroughly grounded in the Force, he just needed support.”

Chip smiled a little, “You’re good at that.  Still can’t believe you and Master Sarisa pulled that off though.”

“I scream loud and Sarisa is stubborn,” Kara said smugly, remembering the six hour conference with the small group of Masters they’d found after the purge.  It had actually devolved into Kara screaming to shut them up followed by Sarisa’s stubbornly pleasant arguments that were just so hard to counter.  “The Padawans needed to feel free to acknowledge their grief, or we’d have a generation of dark Force users in a galaxy that’s dark enough these days.”

Chip hummed in agreement and stood up, “Will you take first watch?”

“Sure,” Kara said.

“Thanks,” Chip grinned at her, “I’ve got to work on that translation, and this might take a while.”

Kara held up her own datapad, “I’ve got a new holo-novel to read.  I’ll call you if anything comes up.”

Kalina and Rusty were gone for nearly two hours before Kara sense _something_ in the Force that had her put aside her datapad and send Chip an alert.  They got to the ramp of the ship just as Kalina entered, almost in tears.

“What happened?”  Kara demanded.

Kalina _did_ burst into tears, “I’m a- a horrible person.”

Chip caught Kalina as she stumbled forward, giving Kara a quick _you owe me_ hand sign as he pulled Kalina away to calm her down.

“Explain,” Kara said softly.

Rusty flinched, “I’m sorry, boss.  She stepped away to talk to someone who said he was selling.  I was right there, close enough to be seen, but I couldn’t hear what the guy said.  He kind of waved his hand, and then she straightened up and told me we were leaving.  She didn’t say anything.”

Kara felt a finger of icy dread curl down her spine, “Describe him?”

“Early forties, blue eyes, black hair, but it was dyed, and badly dyed at that.  Dressed like a moisture farmer, but had a vibroblade and a hold-out blaster.  Moved like he had training.  His voice was familiar, but the accent was weird, like he was trying to sound native and he wasn’t.”

“Did he talk to you?”  Kara asked.

“No,” Rusty replied.  “Although he didn’t ignore me either.  Gave me a look over a couple of times while talking with Kalina.”

Kara nodded and then glared out the ramp at the sand she could see.  “You good for another trip?”

“Of course,” Rusty said.  “Should I change armor?”

Kara considered, then nodded, “Yes, something not so- Mandalorian.  I need fifteen, and then you introduce me to this man.”

“Yes boss,” Rusty replied, body twitching with a repressed salute.

Kara went back to check on Kalina, who wasn’t crying, but still upset.  “Let me see,” Kara said, sliding onto the ship’s bunk where Chip had taken Kalina.

“Okay,” Kalina sniffed.

Kara rested her hand on Kalina’s forehead, opening herself enough to fall into her friend’s mind.  As she’d expected from Rusty’s report, there were signs of a Jedi mind trick in Kalina’s mind, convincing her that she wanted to rethink her life instead of buying younglings.

Kara wasn’t a Mind Healer like her father, or Sarisa, but she had Empathy and some training.  Not enough to completely reverse the Trick, its creator was clearly skilled far beyond Kara’s training, but enough to calm Kalina and set in place a few tricks of her own to keep her from dwelling on the Trick’s whispers.

Then she got up, pulled on a hooded poncho and the full cover rebreather that was the best disguise they had, armed herself, and headed to meet Rusty.

“Let’s go find that _di’kut,”_ Rusty said, now dressed identically to Kara.

They headed into Mos Eisely, with Rusty leading the way back to the cantina.  The man they were hunting was gone.

“Now what?”  Rusty muttered.

“Now I look,” Kara replied.

“Boss,” Rusty said.

“I have to,” Kara said, “I’ll make it quick.”

Rusty’s hand dropped to his blaster, danger and death a near-visible aura as Kara reached into the Force.  It took a moment, her quarry had impressive shields, but soon she’d picked up enough from the area around them that she could track the signature that had Tricked her friend.

The trail led them through the city to one of the protected parking pads, where a black-haired man was loading up a speeder with supplies.  Kara dropped a hand to her gun, a signal for Rusty to drop back and draw his weapon.  Once she sensed Rusty was ready, Kara flared her shields, just enough to catch attention if someone nearby was watching.

The black-haired man turned, and Kara was grateful that her mask hid her face.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, tired, beardless, and looking far too old for the Jedi she remembered.

“I know you,” Kenobi whispered after a moment.

Kara forced herself to tamp down her joy at seeing another Jedi.  “I want to know what the hell you thought you were doing to my agent?”

“Agent?”  Kenobi said.

“Yes, the lady _you_ Tricked and sent away,” Kara snapped, crossing her arms.

“She was a slave buyer,” Kenobi said, and seemed to get even sadder, “is that what you have fallen to these days?”

“I said agent,” Kara said, stepping closer, “not employee.  People don’t pay any attention to slave buyers looking for something.”

Horror and understanding crawled over his face, “I’m sorry.”

Kara wasn’t sure she wanted to accept, so settled for a quick jerk of the head, “We’re looking for a pair of Force sensitive younglings before the Empire tracks them down.”

Fear.

“A Twi’lek and a Rodian, possibly pretending to be slaves, possibly actual slaves now.  The Twi’lek, at least, was a Padawan.  We know they’re in a desert, and we don’t have much time,” Kara said.

Kenobi bowed his head, and Kara sensed something in him, a relief of sorts.

“They’re not here,” he said finally.

“But they were,” Kara replied.

“Yes,” Kenobi said, “I know someone, he made the arrangements.  I don’t know where they’re going.”

Kara nodded slightly, “Don’t suppose you could put me in touch with your someone, then?”

“Not exactly,” Kenobi said, “but I can give you contacts.  What would you do with them?”

“Take them to a refuge,” Kara said, “a place they can grieve and learn their way again.”

“To fight back?”  Kenobi asked.

Kara shook her head, “To fight, but, there’s already a rebellion out there, or soon will be.  We all, we know that much.  Some of them might go there, if they can, but mostly, we’re waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”  Kenobi asked.

“Hope,” Kara said, “Rebellions are built on hope, my friend.  We know it exists, it was the single ray of light in our darkest hour.  When the time comes, we’ll be there.”

Kenobi looked away for a moment, “If I should find any other special younglings.”

Kara didn’t have to think, she already knew.  It wasn’t a vision, but the Force had been growing insistent in her mind, showing her things she didn’t understand yet.  Her fingers itched to draw, but she knew this wasn’t the place.

“There is a freighter called the _Star Hawk,_ Corellian made, Ilandrian crew.  Tell the captain that ten months is the perfect resting time for vengeance.”

“Still holding on to that?”  Kenobi asked.

“Never as much as you thought I did,” Kara said.  _“K’oyacyi,_ old man.”

 _“K’oyacyi,_ child of faith,” Kenobi replied.

Kara gestured to Rusty and headed for the ship.  Rusty obediently kept silent until the hatch closed, then yanked his helmet off, “That was it?”

“Yes,” Kara said, and took her own helmet off, “it’s settled.  Make a note in the report, we don’t go to Tatooine, ever.”

“General,” Rusty said, “Kalina.”

Kara looked at the helmet a moment, then to Rusty, “That was Obi-Wan Kenobi, Rusty.  Bad dye job, crazy shields, and all.  He’s protecting something, don’t ask me what because I don’t know that.  I just know that he’s protecting our last hope.  Now we have to protect him.”

“What happened?”  Chip asked.

Kara eyed her friend for a long moment, “Official version is that the kids have already been saved and sent elsewhere.  Out of respect for the local Jedi-in-exile, Tatooine is an official no-go zone.”

“Unofficially?”  Chip said dryly.

“We have to go flash a lightsaber around,” Kara said, “pull some attention.”  She headed for the cockpit.  “We’ve been to a lot of desert worlds lately.  Let’s go check out some place water.”

“Kara, that wasn’t an answer,” Chip said.

“We’ll need to jump a few times,” Kara said as she slid into the pilot’s chair, “but we’ll be home within the month.”

 


End file.
